Business Tools for Improving Freelancer Efficiency

I have already posted a few lists of Freelancer Tools for tracking time, collecting money and project management and collaboration. In these posts you found several great tools to support your business but there is still uncovered areas that are important to you success. Having tools to support your efficiency and structure you business is essential and I have collected a list of tools in this post that may be of great help.

A scheduling tool that has been created to help reclaim time and put an end to the endless back and forth communication that has become normal when scheduling a meeting. It is so simple and yet very powerful.

Registration isn’t required to use the basic free service (Branded and Premium versions also exist and offer more flexibility), so getting started is quick and easy. To schedule an event, you just select some dates and times and let the participants specify what works best for them. With a quick look, you’ll see everyone’s availability and be able to make a final decision that satisfies the entire group.

“Doodle is used worldwide by more than three million people per month, and features like Outlook and Facebook integration help all of these users in their quest to gain victory over meetings.”

This is an obvious choice for freelancers and small businesses that can’t afford more expensive suites. “More than 2 million businesses run Google Apps!”. Communication and collaboration tools from Google.

Gmail for business 25GB storage, less spam, and a 99.9% uptime SLA, and enhanced email security.

“Over 100,000 people have used Campfire to send more than 60,000,000 chat messages to their clients, in-house colleagues, and remote teams.”

Campfire is a web-based group chat tool that lets you set up password-protected chat rooms. Invite a client, colleague, or vendor to chat, collaborate, and make decisions. Link to a room on your intranet for internal communications. Read past chat transcripts anytime you want. Campfire keeps a history. Upload a GIF, JPG, or PNG, and it shows up right in the chat room.

Manage your email, contacts, documents and activities. Relenta lets you share email between multiple users, so that it doesn’t matter if a co-worker is on vacation or located many time zones away. You can view messages associated with any contact and instantly catch up on any activity that’s taken place. You can share generic aliases such as sales@yourcompany.com or support@yourcompany.com across multiple users. Now everyone can see at a glance which inquiries have been responded to, and which still need to be addressed. You can create rules to filter and sort incoming email, so that messages are automatically assigned to specific queues, users, teams, or contacts. You can also create a shared library of canned responses to reduce workload and ensure consistency. You can even set up conditional auto-responders so inquiries meeting specified criteria instantly trigger appropriate pre-written responses.

SoloCRM is a tool designed specifically for independent professionals such as freelancers, independent contractors and consultants. soloCRM focuses on the needs of the independent professionals that service multiple clients at the same time. The purpose of this tool is to organize service providers and their clients so that they can efficiently get through their projects without all the familiar headaches. Unlike many CRM applications that focus heavily on the marketing side of customer relations, this tool focus on the delivery of services.

“Getting ready to launch a brand new concept? Would you like to know what other professionals think before you release it to the world? Concept Feedback is designed specifically for you!”. Upload and share your website, advertisement, logo and more. Receive quick, actionable feedback from a professional community

One address book for all your information. Track meetings, events, and more. Customize and edit detailed reports. Manage workflow in your business. Store important files, docs and photos.

Wufoo – Make forms to survey your clientsAIGA Spec Letter – Sample letter to communicate with clients who want spec work or free pitchingCPA Directory – Find an accountant (in the US)SBA – Small Business Administration, help and advice

Escrow – Online payment system that protects the buyer and seller, useful for those bigger jobs with anonymous clients.Resources for the Design Entrepeneur – Free sample forms and agreementsWork – How-to guides to running a small businessXE – Quick and easy currency converter for all your international transactions…Trendwatching – Consumer trends and insights resourceBreeze – Email campaign and newsletter software. Create, send and analyse campaigns.

Five Second Test – While you need to purchase tokens to unlock some premium test features, you can create and run as many tests as you like for free. reating a new test only takes a few seconds, registration is optional and we provide multiple ways of viewing and organising your results. People use five second test to locate calls to action, optimize landing pages, and run A/B tests. You can use them for whatever

contentcube . It is like visual FTP. You can have all your originals organized online and then share proofs or deliverables with your clients. The service automatically generates previews of PSD and AI files too. Great presentation tool as well.